Manny Ramirez Files For Reinstatement

MONDAY, 4:37am: Olney tweets that it's "unlikely, but possible" that the Rays will show interest in bringing Ramirez back.

SUNDAY, 8:44pm: In a news release, MLB has confirmed that Ramirez has applied for reinstatement and will serve a 50-game suspension, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.

8:32pm: The Rays aren't expected to have any interest in signing Ramirez again, tweets Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times.

6:04pm: The Mariners are probably not interested in signing Ramirez, a source tells Buster Olney of ESPN.com (via Twitter).

4:01pm: Olney tweets that the early response from evaluators around baseball is that an AL team will give Manny a non-roster invite to Spring Training to see if he can still hit. Olney also speculates that the following teams will have no interest in Ramirez: the Red Sox, Yankees, Royals, Tigers, White Sox, Indians, Twins, Rangers, Angels, and A's (moreTwitterlinks).

3:14pm: A source tells ESPN's Buster Olney that Ramirez has already filed for reinstatement and that he will indeed serve a 50-game suspension rather than 100. Ramirez is currently working out in Florida. He and his agents have told teams that he is ready to begin discussions. Ramirez's suspension clock wouldn't begin until he signs a contract (allTwitterlinks).

2:22pm: Morosi clarifies that the Players' Union will argue that Ramirez effectively served his 100-game suspension last season. MLB will need to apply some form of punishment though, and Morosi says a 50-game suspension is a likely compromise. The 50-game violation isn't official, but both sides "seem amenable to it," says Morosi (Twitterlinks).

1:55pm: Manny Ramirez apparently isn't done "being Manny" yet. The troubled slugger will file for reinstatement from Major League Baseball's voluntary retired list according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Ramirez has hired agents Barry Praver and Scott Shapiro, and will be eligible to play in the 2012 season following a 50-game suspension, though his initial punishment was a 100-game suspension.

Ramirez signed a one-year deal to be the Rays' primary designated hitter last season, but abruptly retired in the season's first week after he tested positive for a banned substance for the second time in his career.

Without the PED controversy, the 39-year-old's career numbers would make him a lock for the Hall of Fame. He owns a career .312/.411/.585 triple slash line with 555 long balls. Those credentials are obviously questionable in light of drug testing though, and nearly 74% of MLBTR readers who responded to this April poll said they didn't feel Ramirez should make it to Cooperstown.

Wouldn’t he technically belong to the Rays still? Is the system similar to football? Where players can not announce retirement just get away from a team? Not to say the Rays want them but is it possible?

Yup. Nathanalext has it right. A good example of how it’s the five year rule that matters, as opposed to the player’s expressed desire to retire would be Jose Rijo. Rijo had multiple Tommy John surgeries and hadn’t played in 5 years in 2000. he insisted he wasn’t retired but he went on the HoF ballot anyway. Then he made a comeback the next year and pitched parts of two seasons.

Yup: the BBHOF site says to be eligible to go on the ballot, “Player shall have ceased to be an active player in the Major Leagues at least five calendar years preceding the election.”

This from the Hall of Fame web site:
“Players who are eligible have played 10 seasons of Major League Baseball and have been retired from for five full seasons. For example, those players eligible for consideration in 2012 will have played their final game in 2006. Those players eligible for consideration in 2013 will have last played in 2007, etc.”
Soundsfrom that like ballot eligibility occurs after their last game

LOL Yeah that’s kind of what I was going for. I don’t think he cares about the HOF at all. He seems to be one of those guys that will retire and nobody will ever hear from him again. If he got inducted, I could see him not even showing up to the ceremony.

What everyone is forgetting is his agent’s hand in all of this. He is most likely the one behind Manny’s return, While there is money to be made, there will be plenty of people sticking their hands out and lining their own pockets.

Manny might not be the best person or teammate. But the guy can hit the ball good. And he only used steroids to keep his health. He wasn’t like Bonds or McGwire and used them to get better. He only used them to keep himself younger and to keep his health.

I plan to be disagreed with, but it’s true. He shouldn’t go in the HoF. But the guy is a good player.

I think people are likely to respond bby saying “How do you know?”. I wouldn;t disagree with the second paragraph of your post because it isn’t that controversial. The first part though about why he took roids… Do you know Manny? How the hell do you know why he took them?

“The first part though about why he took roids… Do you know Manny? How the hell do you know why he took them?”

The types of steroids he took weren’t like the ones Mark and Barry took. They were on hardcore roids where as Manny was on some weaker ones. Also, Manny took a lot of women fertility drugs and other things, they can be used to keep health at times (And to cover up real steroid use too, so he probably used them for 2 reasons)

Yeah, he was given a bad break. Twice. It’s sad enough that he had the first bad break when he was with the Dodgers, I’m really heartbroken about the SECOND bad break he had with the Rays. Hang on a sec, I need to get a tissue.

Female fertility drugs are taken by ex roid users to safely maintain their estrogen levels and testosterone levels once they stop using roids. When some one stops using any kind of steroids their test levels drop while their estrogen levels jump bthe fertility drugs help balance those levels. Thts why he
Was using them.

I was off by a lot. My steroid knowledge isn’t what it used to be. I knew a fertility drug was used to keep health, but it was to keep health after steroids. Not while on steroids. So yeah, I was wrong about that.

How do you know he can “hit the ball good (sic)”? How do you know kind of hitter he would have been if he hadn’t had steroids to pump him up? He might have been a mediocre or bad hitter whose on and off the field antics would have made him a MLB untouchable many, many years before he “retired”? No one except Manny knows when he started juicing. He might have started in high school.

Manny Ramirez was always obscenely talented and productive. Go back and look at his minor league numbers. There is high school scouting video bouncing around somewhere as well. Argue all you want about his durability and longevity being aided by performance enhancers, but there is no doubt about his talent from an early age on.

Just because Manny could “hit the ball good” since high school (where he batted like .650 or so iirc) doesn’t mean he could do it without steroids. Like I said before and you seemed to ignore… He might have been juicing since high school. It isn’t like he would be the first athelete to juice while still in high school.

I really don’t see how this is a defensible argument. Yeah, he was a great hitter, no one can take that away from him. When he truly tried and truly cared, almost no one was on his level. But, the “reason” he might have taken steroids and the amount of steroids taken is immaterial. He took steroids and rather than serve his second offense and stay with the team that signed him, he chose to “retire” and now come back. It says a lot about his character.

If he stopped what he was doing, admitted it and moved on, he’d have a lot more respect in the league (not that he cares about that, I’m sure). Giambi admitted to steroids years ago and is still playing and is rarely brought up anymore in that conversation.

i dont think he has the number to be in hof because he was not a great outfielder and then with all these with steroid that make it more impossible for him to be elected…to me his numbers are compatible with jim rice and he enventually got in after how many years..i dont know i know we are a forgiving society after time has passed may be he has a chance

Manny was using with Joey Belle in the 90’s. I call BS on the “staying healthy” crap. He mostly stood around immobile in LF and batted. He never slid or hustled in the field or on the bases. Why wouldn’t he stay healthy?

Just doesn’t make sense to me that the MLB feels the need to find middle-ground with the Player’s Union. The MLB set these penalties up to be used in cases of confirmed PED use. Makes the rules seem even more of a joke to the fans of the game than they already are.
I get he missed last season. That was his choice. The penalty is still his to serve, that’s not anyone’s problem but his.

The better question is what teams might bite…maybe the Mets, the O’s or the Blue Jays? Not sure if the Mariners are really that desperate. Manny could be a decent chip if he exceeds when the deadline arrives.

Saw Manny multiple times in spring training last year. He was just raking the ball everywhere on a line. Then the unexplained hiatus for a few days (a family matter) and he returned to start the season. He was horrible when the season started. I think he had one hit – an infield job. I had to think that he was juicing during the spring, got caught and stopped, hence the surprisingly big drop off. I don’t think he has anything left when juiceless. Teams should stay away.

I tend to think that you are right. In fact, I was always a bit skeptical about the whole steroids impact on hitting a baseball. The difference in Manny was so extreme that I started to wonder myself. Maybe knowing that he had gotten caught got to his head and he couldn’t hit in the regular season. He really was killing the ball in the spring which had gotten Rays fans attention. I can’t imagine he would be worth a roster spot.

You have not been paying attention the last two years. Just look at the power numbers throughout MLB. Just about all the power numbers are down in both leagues and the pitching numbers are up. Why would that be?

he retired without officially serving his suspension, mlb needs to adhere to its policy and make him serve his suspension or else their whole policy is a joke, this is is second time CAUGHT CHEATING.If it was arod, you can be damn sure he’d have to serve the full suspension whether he retired, died or whatever.

I would sign Manny to a one-year minor league contract that guarantees the major league minimum and, after the suspension is completed, make him prove himself for 40-50 games in the minors before bringing him to the major leagues. (Especially if I was a small market, American League team.)

Considering his on-field accomplishments, yes, it wasn’t the right way.
However, considering everything else, e.g. multiple steroids, lying, beating up a tickets guy, being a whiny primadonna, and of course, acting like a selfish c**t, “retiring” as soon as the positive result came back.

He screwed over the Dodgers with his first suspension, making them roll out Juan Pierre.

He almost screwed over the Rays with his second “suspension”/retirement. They were inches away from missing the playoffs, and they had help from a very un-Kotchman like Kotchman.

It’s usually cool or exciting if a player came back after several years of inactivity and adds a few more memorable games to his career, but guys like Favre, Ramirez and Clemens makes it much less tolerable. Whichever team sign him should get ready for some migraine-causing jackass moments.

He’s entertaining at times, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s a self-centered, cheating, lying jack-ass.